Neil Ventura MCMI

Role and Business Priorities 

As Global Purchasing Director, Neil is responsible for leading a globally dispersed team of diamond purchasing professionals to ensure that Diamdel has the right quantity and quality of rough diamond intake to meet customer needs. In an industry where suppliers (typically junior mining companies) have considerable bargaining power, Neil must ensure that Diamdel offers a highly competitive value proposition in order to secure new business and retain existing arrangements with suppliers across the world.

Business Impact Delivered

The diamond industry has undergone a tremendous amount of change over the last few years and De Beers market share had reduced from controlling around 85% of the world production to controlling around 45%. As a result De Beers needed to become much more competitive.

Neil worked to deliver a 250% improvement in net profit. He achieved this through various initiatives including; restructuring the Asia Pacific customer base to drive customer satisfaction amongst fewer, strategically aligned customers; leading the sales team from a transactional, personality driven approach to a more commercially focused relationship based approach; through introducing improved financial controls including receivables management. 

The Appeal of Chartered Manager 

Neil was attracted to the idea of being able to benchmark his skills: “…it was evident that although having an MBA may offer you the toolkit for becoming a better manager, it does not in itself ensure you become one. I therefore started seeking a way to benchmark my management and leadership strengths and find a path to professional recognition. Chartered Manager fulfilled these needs on both counts.”

The credibility of Chartered Manager also appealed to him, which he finds can be key when meeting senior figures from another business for the first time.

Ongoing Benefits

As a result of achieving Chartered Manager status, Neil has benefited from peer and senior manager recognition, a clear development plan to improve his managerial abilities, increased credibility and the ability to benchmark his skills.

Neil’s current development priorities focus on improving his negotiation skills and leading change effectively.